If you've been on Instagram lately then you've probably seen ads for companies like Blue Social that advertise "smart" business cards, letting you share personal information with others simply by tapping this card on their device.
While the concept is cool, I personally didn't like Blue Social. For one, their cards link out to a page on blue social, I wanted to link to my own site. Second, the price just wasn't right, at $34.99, it wasn't worth it to me at that price.
But then it got me thinking, NFC smart cards aren't rocket science, I bet I could just make one myself. Usually when I do something like this it ends up being much harder than I previously anticipated, but in this case it was actually way easier than I thought. So, you ready to make your own NFC smart cards?
Step 1: Buy the card
The first step is to get some NFC smart cards. I would suggest just searching "NFC Cards" on Amazon or Ebay, you can usually get them for around $4.99 for 10 cards. There are many shapes and sizes of these cards and prices vary depending on quantity, it doesn't really matter which one you get.
Step 2: Load data
Once you get your NFC cards, the next step is to load data on your device. To load data on your device you will need a smartphone with NFC capabilities (most devices support NFC these days) and a free app (there are tons). I suggest NFC tools, you can find the iOS app here and the Android app here
One you open the app go ahead and click "read" and then tap your card to your device, it should read the card and show that there is no data on your card. Next go back and click on write and then add a some records.
If you want to share contact info with iPhones you can either put your phone number or website and iPhones will read that, however if you add a contact, Android devices will read it but iPhones wont.
Once you add your data, select "Write" and then tap your card to the device. After the data is written you should be able to just tap your card to your device and notification will show up to open your website/contact/phone.
Conclusion
NFC Smart cards are really easy to make, while companies like Blue social give you a very user friendly way to make one, i prefer to save a few bucks and have fun doing it myself.
Top comments (3)
Hi,
Do you know if it’s possible to do the same but skipping the card and just using an iPhone or Android to tap on another smartphone and share our infos using NFC?
Thanks 😊
NFC file transfer a contact card, url, picture of a business card... basically anything you want. Both phones would need NFC and the ability to transmit/receive via NFC. You could also use Bluetooth to do a file transfer, and using two Apple products you could use Airdrop.The physical card allows you to be as professional or whimsical as you please, and also the option to add a QR code as another way to connect with someone!
Please share your Email ID or Cell number; I want to discuss little more something about NFC Business Card. Or, Text me to 7188395812. Thanks.